NYSED

NYS Education Dept

To ensure that existing support services, including Academic Intervention Services and Title I compensatory services, remain relevant and appropriate as New York continues to implement the Common Core Learning Standards, the Board of Regents at its February 10, 2014 meeting directed the State Education Department (SED or “the Department”) to develop proposed amendments to Commissioner’s Regulations to continue providing flexibility to districts in the provision of AIS (see http://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/2014/February2014/214p12a6.pdf). The full News Release is available here.

The New York State Education Department today released approximately 50 percent of the questions used on the 2014 Grades 3-8 assessments (a 100 percent increase in the number released for the 2013 tests). The released questions will help students, families, educators, and the public understand the breadth and depth with which the state tests measure college and career readiness.

The released questions represent a range of difficulty and illustrate how student performance is assessed in accordance with the learning expectations and instructional shifts established by the New York State Common Core Learning Standards. Released questions can help inform classroom instruction and local assessment practices.

This linked memo to the Board of Regents from the NYSED Offices of Higher Education and P-12 Student Support Services was published as part of the October 21, 2013 Board of Regents agenda. NYSSCA had previously provided relevant information to these offices on student to counselor ratios, school counselor certification requirements and the importance of national standards for school counseling programs, much of which is included in the attached memo.

NYSSCA was at the Regents’ meeting on October 21st to observe the presentation by NYSED’s Ken Slentz, Deputy Commissioner P-12 Education, and Stephanie Wood-Garnett, Assistant Commissioner Higher Education. Their powerpoint is also attached. The focus of the presentation was the need to address NYSED regulations regarding school counselor preparation. The recommendations presented to the Regents were: (1) obtain data on the current state of school counseling in NYS through a state-wide survey; and (2) increase NYSED support to school counselors by creating targeted resources.

You can see from both the memo and the powerpoint that the supporting information included was significant and reflects what NYSSCA has been saying publicly for some time:

the student to counselor ratio in NYS is too high (424:1)

counselors need strong preparation and ongoing professional development

school district programs need to be based on standards i.e. ASCA and NYSSCA Comprehensive Models.

We applaud NYSED’s Offices of Higher Education and P-12 Education for bringing this critical information to the attention of the Board of Regents. NYSSCA continues to offer our assistance to both Offices as they move forward to increase their support for school counselors and our role in schools in New York State.Your NYSSCA membership counts!

Dignity For All Students Act:

Information on the Dignity for All Students Act can be found at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/dignityact/ including a link to a guidance document issued by the NYSED just last month. As regards the Act’s staffing, the new guidance document states “The Dignity Act also requires that at least one staff member at every school be thoroughly trained to handle human relations in the areas of race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender, and sex (Education Law §13[3]). This staff member should be referred to as the Dignity Act Coordinator (DAC).” The document does recommend that “guidance counselors” be partners in the Act’s implementation, but it says the same for many different members of the school community.

Please share these with student support groups and work with your district as you implement new lessons, programs and policies. This is a great document to assist with defining how school counselors work with social and emotional areas.

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